Korean American YouTuber Simply SSOL talks about everything from her life in Korea to what it’s like getting married to a Korean national. In one of her older videos, she detailed five things foreigners might find strange in Korea and the point-of-view she offers is unique considering she’s a Korean American, married to a Korean man, living in Korea!
1. Cleavage
It’s kind of inappropriate in Korea. It’s kind of frowned upon. People will kind of look at you in a negative way.
—Simply SSOL
This is also something Korean YouTuber YongHyeon also mentioned in his video titled “Things You Should NOT Do In Korea”.
2. Matching outfits
In Korea, you might see a lot of couples wearing the same shirt. Or, even from head-to-toe, they wear the same shirt, pants, shoes… It’s kind of like showing the public ‘we’re a couple’.
—Simply SSOL
She shared that her husband wanted to wear matching outfits but they never got around to doing it because she always found it a bit weird.
3. Skinship
You’ll see in the streets, a lot of the same sex, like woman and woman, like friends, co-workers, usually you have to be pretty close, I feel like, but you’ll see this a lot. A lot of girl friends, not so much males, but I did see some males too, they’ll be holding hands and walking down the streets.
—Simply SSOL
She shared that this is something she’s used to now, although locking hands with another girl is a little weird for her, although she reaffirms that it’s a cultural difference.
4. Dogs in strollers
They have a stroller and you would usually think there’s a baby in it but sometimes it’s a dog. I’m still not used to this sight but every time I see this I have to look twice.
—Simply SSOL
5. Carrying umbrellas to avoid tanning
I feel like in the Western culture if the sun’s out, you want to get a tan, like a nice tan. ‘Yes, the sun’s out! I can finally lay out in my backyard and get a natural tan!’ In Korea, you don’t want to be in the sun at all. The whiter your face, like, the more… They think it’s more beautiful to have a whiter face.
—Simply SSOL
She observed that this is especially typical for ahjummas over the age of 40 carrying umbrellas so they don’t get the sun in their faces.
Younger people, I feel like, they probably have twenty pounds of sunblock on.
—Simply SSOL
Did you already know these five things or did you learn something new from SSOL?
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